Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Saturday, March 26, 2011, the 4th day of the Spring Koshien Tournament.

Today, three matches will be played, featuring several strong and popular teams such as Wisdom Wakayama, Luzheng Society, and Waseda Industries— the match between Waseda Jitsugyo and Kyushu Academy is scheduled for the final slot of the day, indicating the importance the tournament places on them.

In the past few days of the tournament, there have been several unexpected upsets:

On the second day of the tournament, the Kantou representative, Kanagawa's powerhouse Yokohama High School lost their first match with a score of 1:5, defeated by the much weaker Hozumi High School.

Such an unexpected result left Yokohama High School's legendary coach, Watanabe Mototsugu, in controversy— for some reason, in the first match of this tournament, he did not use Yanagida Yuuya, who had been the starter all along; instead, he assigned the position to the much less experienced first-year left-handed pitcher Yamane Tatsuya.

In this match, the starting pitcher Yamane Tatsuya had a very average performance, achieving only 1 strikeout in 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, and issuing 6 walks and allowing 4 runs;

Subsequently, Yanagida Yuuya, who came in as a reliever, pitched 3 innings, added 6 strikeouts, allowed no walks, and conceded only one run.

From this comparison, it is obvious to any discerning person who the stronger player is.

Therefore, after the match, many Takano Media outlets, especially several from Kanagawa, questioned Watanabe Mototsugu's personnel decisions— some Yokohama High School supporters even posted the following comments on sports forums:

[Although it's only a Takano competition, winning isn't everything— but losing a game that should have been easily won is still very hard to accept...]

[I don't deny the glory Watanabe has brought to Yokohama, but this match clearly shows that he has grown old, and it's time to step down for someone more competent.]

[It's obvious to everyone that Yanagida is the more outstanding one, right? I really don't understand the coach's thinking.]

[The educational methods and coaching mindset from the Showa era really don't fit today's players anymore. To be honest, Watanabe is without a doubt the most honored high school coach, but he's nearly 70, and I think he should quit while he's ahead, or else he might end up ruining his reputation...]

The third day of the tournament came swiftly, and the top seed for this year, Nihon University, also faced its first match of the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament— the West Tokyo giant's opponent was also a high-profile team, Meitoku Gijuku from Kochi Prefecture.

In the first two innings of the match, both sides were still feeling each other out— after all, the opening day of Koshien was in late March, barely half a month after the interscholastic games were lifted. Even the powerful Nihon University players needed time to find their form slowly.

In the bottom of the third inning, the score was still 0:0, but after three innings of probing, Nihon University showed its fangs first:

The eighth batter, ace pitcher Yoshinaga Kentarou, stood as the lead-off hitter this inning. Surprisingly, Yoshinaga, who is not known for his batting, managed to hit a triple against Meitoku Gijuku's ace pitcher Ozaki Yoshiaki, instantly revitalizing the situation on the field.

For a team's ace pitcher, being hit by a long ball from an opponent who is not good at hitting is very demoralizing, and this was reflected in the following match—

After Yoshinaga Kenta was sent back to home plate through a sacrifice bunt by his teammate, Ozaki Yoshiaki experienced a massive dip in mindset:

Facing Nihon University's formidable top three batters, under the dual pressure of an unstable mindset and strong hitters, Ozaki Yoshiaki issued three consecutive walks, filling all three bases with Nihon University's players— this was the biggest crisis Meitoku Gijuku faced in the match.

But subsequently, Ozaki Yoshiaki demonstrated why he could become an ace: with the bases loaded and one out, facing Nihon University's strongest fourth batter Hirao Toshitaka, he struck the batter out with a beautifully thrown slider;

The fifth batter, Kaneko Rei, was lured by a low ball, resulting in a high fly ball that was easily caught and killed by central fielder Yamaguchi Reimon— Meitoku Gijuku passed through the crisis without any harm.

Having survived narrowly, Meitoku Gijuku's morale soared, and they began their furious counterattack in the subsequent match:

In the top of the fourth inning, the seventh batter catcher Sugihara Kenji got a hit from Yoshinaga Kentarou and was subsequently sent back by a triple from his teammate, ninth batter Yamaguchi Reimon, successfully tying the score;

In the top of the fifth inning, the third and fourth batters, Senda Seiichi and Kitagawa Rentaro, hit consecutive doubles in two at-bats and were subsequently sent back by their teammates through sacrifice hits, allowing Meitoku Gijuku to successfully overtake the score;

In the top of the sixth inning, they gathered another wave of offensive, relying on a flash of inspiration from the lower batting order and the stable output of the center batting line to score another run, expanding the lead to three points.

Less than half an hour ago, it was still Nihon University that had a firm grip on the entire game; however, now, the Shengong champion and top favorite of the Senbatsu Tournament found themselves in a very disadvantageous situation— under the complete block of Ozaki Yoshiaki, Nihon University's unstoppable strong batting line rarely fell into silence.

In the sports world, there is a saying, which roughly means that when a team wins a major tournament championship, the entire team's temperament undergoes a massive change from top to bottom; in other words, the players develop a "champion temperament."

This kind of temperament allows them to demand higher standards of themselves in daily practice and maintain a better mindset when facing setbacks in competitions.

Without a doubt, the players on the field for Nihon University possess such a temperament— even in the unfavorable situation of being three points behind, there was not a trace of panic on the players' faces.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Shengong champions began their counterattack:

The third batter, Sho Hango, and the fourth batter Hirao Toshitaka hit consecutive hits, and with the help of their teammates, they advanced the bases; with two outs and runners on second and third base, the seventh batter, Suganuma Kenichi, held up under pressure, hitting a double to clear the bases— the point gap instantly shrank to one point;

In the top of the seventh inning, Yoshinaga Kentarou, who had performed poorly in the previous innings, timely found his form, easily dealing with three Meitoku Gijuku batters with a grounder to second base, a high fly ball to third base, and a strikeout;

In the subsequent seventh and eighth innings, Nihon University's offensive momentum was like a raging fire, continuously pounding on Meitoku Gijuku's precarious defense— although Meitoku Gijuku's ace batter, Kitagawa Rentaro, who has hit a total of 13 home runs in high school, helped the team score another run, Nihon University still managed to scrape three runs off the fatigued Ozaki Yoshiaki, completing a dramatic comeback.

In the top of the ninth inning, Yoshinaga Kentarou stood up again, using one strikeout and two groundouts to seal the narrow one-point advantage for his team, completing a remarkable comeback.

In this match, Yoshinaga Kentarou pitched the entire game, and although he gave up five runs, considering his astonishing pitch count of 189 balls and 8 strikeouts, his performance was still commendable.

At two o'clock in the afternoon on the 26th, the match for Waseda Jitsugyo began on time— in the previous two matches today, the stronger teams, Wisdom Wakayama and Luzheng Society, advanced effortlessly.

The attention of all Japan was focused on the upcoming match.